Week One

Scott King

Scott King is a British artist born in 1969. King trained as a graphic designer and his work showcases an interest in how iconic images can be used as symbols to communicate information when detached from their original meaning. His interest in iconography can be seen in the following works:

Temporary Eyesore, Bankside, London SE1, 2008.

Temporary Eyesore, in I Beam U Channel, Bortolami, New York, 2016.

Temporary Eyesore, 2008/2016

Temporary Eyesore is a hoarding exhibit commissioned by the Architecture Foundation in association with Tate Modern. The goal of the 2008 project was to ‘transform this temporary and unsightly hoarding by means of an artwork”. The design was adapted into a ‘mesh hoarding’ for the 2016 I Beam U Channel group exhibition in New York. Hoarding exhibits typically aim to display public art that removes the unattractive aspects of construction, yet King decided to diverge from that approach. This conceptual, text-based work provokes a feeling of industrialism that calls the viewer to pay attention to what the piece itself actually is: a construction hoarding. Aspects of Temporary Eyesore including the contrasting colours, bold text, and the use of hoarding material communicate a sense of caution, especially because similar colours, text and material would be found in construction zones. The words “temporary eyesore” are cynical, while also ironic when placed into the context of art. The technical and conceptual aspects of this piece work very well together, contributing to both my personal taste and the success of the piece. 

Pop-Kultur: Mogwai, 2016

This piece by Scott King is a poster for a performance by Mogwai at Berlin’s Pop-Kulture festival in August 2016. The festival organizers’ goal was to overfill the poster with explanatory information, which King decided to implement as a design feature. The black text on the white background is reminiscent of a book or magazine, especially with the use of the footnotes featured at the bottom of the poster. The various fonts and text sizes create a diverse visual experience without causing too much distraction or obnoxiousness. The poster creates a feeling of confusion because there is so much information to take in, but when looking closer at the footnotes it is clear that the information listed is promotional rather than educational. King uses font, colour and material to his advantage when communicating through text-based work. The magazine-inspired look is attention-grabbing, and the overfilling with text is humorous and effective when read more closely. This text-based poster work is effective at drawing in interest through curiosity, as well as providing an artistically effective pastiche to this literary style. 

Week Two

I thought a lot about what kind of route I wanted to go for my artist multiple, and I am still not entirely sure which of my ideas would be the most successful. I thought of sillier ideas, beginning with a word search where the only word being searched for is the word “search”. With this idea, I was thinking I could even take it a step farther, spelling out every possible word other than the “search” with the available letters.

I also considered the instruction prompt and thought about writing instructions of “how to psychoanalyze your friends” tying into my educational background in psychology or “learn how to collect until you have no more space” as a lighthearted way to express how my mother’s hoarding has been making me feel lately.

The uncommon action prompt made me think of a game mechanic of a Zelda game I played as a kid. In the game, jumping from high up while holding onto a chicken would make the chicken act as a glider until you are safely back on the ground. I have always wondered what this would look like in real life.

Lastly, I considered the minor sentiments prompt. As I was passing by someone this weekend they smiled at me, and I realized how this gesture occurs less often now that everyone is always wearing masks. I thought about that person smiling as they walked by me for the rest of the day.

The other minor sentiment that I have been thinking of recently is my childhood memories of my mother singing. Now that I am older, I haven’t heard her sing in years. When I was a child, I remember singing with her all the time and thinking she had such a beautiful voice. It made me sad to realize that I haven’t heard it in so long, and how much I wish I could again. However, I am too scared to directly tell her this. I have written my mother multiple letters in the form of poetry throughout my life, and I think if I was to go about putting these feelings into words, it would be through poetry.

I’d really like to experiment with fonts for this assignment, and maybe try to make a font of my own handwriting. I am not entirely sure what direction I will take yet, but I am excited to hear some feedback on my ideas.

Week Four

Text Multiple Final:

Word Search (Searching for The Word ‘Search’, But The Word ‘Search’ Isn’t There). Working Title. (2022)

Artist’s Statement:

Word Search (Searching for The Word ‘Search’, But The Word ‘Search’ Isn’t There) is a conceptual piece that examines the style and composition of text as a visual prompt to complete unwritten instructions. At first glance, this piece may appear to be a word search puzzle with no particularities other than having a single item in the word bank. However, when attempting to find this single word there will come a realization – the word ‘Search’ is not present in the puzzle at all. When this unspoken instruction is discredited, the true purpose of the piece can be highlighted.

The word search itself is composed only of letters that make up the word ‘search’. I wanted the puzzle to be made up of these letters, whilst omitting a solution to the listed word bank because I felt that the misguidance would precipitate emotions similar to those of a young child struggling with their homework. Such strong emotions boil up due to misunderstanding something that appears so simple.

Stop Searching, See What You Can Find

This piece also works with an element of optical illusion or rather blending into the background. When stepping away from the assumption that this word search is asking you to find the word ‘search’, the unwritten instructions can be reinterpreted. When considering the possibility that the word bank may not be a word bank, and rather ‘search’ might mean to search for yourself, the piece transforms into something entirely different. Now, you may begin to find something after all.

Week 6

Parents Video Assignment:

I Remember Animal Tracks (2022)

Artist’s Statement:

The last time I spoke to my father was over the phone in 2018, when I was asking him about our family’s medical history. After being connected for a short period, the weak relationship we had suddenly became vaporous and we didn’t speak for nearly four years. I took this prompt as an opportunity to reach out and reconnect with my father. I realize that much of the hurt I have experienced from him when I was younger are still left unhealed. When I look in the mirror now, as a 23-year-old woman, I wonder if someday I too will disappoint my children; What kind of hurt will I cause? Will I go multiple years without speaking to my child? 

I Remember Animal Tracks (2022) is a video work that considers the invisible familial bond between parents and children. The piece opens with a video of my father showing and explaining animal tracks that he found in the snow – inferring that a partridge had been attacked by a hawk. The way that he vocalizes the actions of each bird as he investigates the markings is not unlike how he would do so when teaching me or my siblings growing up. Listening to him speak about the tracks is almost a surreal and transporting experience, and I can’t help but admire him as if I was still a child. I think that this is a part of my father that I will always cherish. 

My father and I both share a deep connection to nature, and this is how we would bond throughout my early life. He taught me to raise animals, to plant a garden and to forage for food. It is partially the fault of my continued love for the outdoors that I found myself unable to completely dismiss my father. As I grow, I see more of my own faults, but also see less of his.

This video is an emotional expression and processing of the severing and mending of the parental relationship I have with my father. The spoken word includes my true feelings and recognitions about the past, my father and myself. The video is almost entirely made up of my own personal archive footage, and visual metaphors decorate the meaning of the paired spoken word. I Remember Animal Tracks (2022) is deeply personal, so I do not expect all of my artistic intent to be easily identifiable. 

The only contact I have had with my father for more than five years now has been exclusively through the phone. Because our connection has been so dependent on the use of our phones, I felt this was a detail that would add to my video. I took each video and cropped them each to fit a 16:9 aspect ratio, the same ratio used when filming videos on an iPhone. Now, despite being hundreds of kilometres apart, there are many invisible bonds that are guiding me back to my father, and this is the first documentation of that process. Maybe it will blow up in my face. Maybe it won’t.

Week 7

Internet as Video Art – In-Character Cosplay

Cosplay has been a very important aspect of my life this past year, as I have transitioned from only wearing cosplay to cons, to now working with photographers and developing a personal brand. Maya Ben David’s work with character work and cosplay was majorly inspiring me to – but I don’t think my quirkiness or acting could compare, so I continued searching for inspiration that would involve a similar concept. Cosplay reels on Instagram and TikTok are majorly popular in the cosplay community and are something I have been very tempted to try myself. The videos above specifically involve in-character cosplay acting that incorporates actions and music that relate to the character, as well as camera work that aims to focus on aesthetic shots and highlighting elements of the cosplay. I’m not exactly sure how I would branch off of this genre, but I would be very interested in exploring how I could do so.

QUESTIONS

• How is it shot, and framed? Where does the material come from? What is the quality of the footage?

The shots are very focused on highlighting in-character elements of cosplay. In the first video the sakura trees, melodica and the bouncing action are highlighted as these are all elements that showcase Kaori’s character.

In the second video, clips of the actual character are spliced together with the cosplay footage to show a cosplay/character comparison. Almost as if the character was plucked right into reality.

The quality of both videos is quite good, however, reels are often shot on phones which may impose limits regarding quality.

• How is it edited, and does it flow from clip to clip?

These clips are edited to show multiple frames of in-character actions. They flow by using non-cosplay shots such as the flowers and melodica in the first video, and character footage in the second video. This helps to create a visually captivating piece and keep the viewer engaged.

• What does it sound like? How are sound or image manipulated and transformed from original footage?

These videos use music from their respective series/game. This adds to the contextualization and characterization of the cosplays.

• What are some of the key features that define this genre?What are some weird variations on it?

This genre is majorly focused on displaying the cosplays, so the way the videos are shot is incredibly important. There should be a focus on aesthetic shots and clear images of the cosplay.

Weird variations of in-character cosplay videos would likely include skits or lip-syncing character lines. I highly prefer videos without spoken audio, especially in this context.

• What are some of the reasons these kinds of videos are compelling or useful in this historical moment? Use quotes from published sources to back up your arguments and analysis.

TBD

• How do you relate to it?

I have been cosplaying since I was a teenager, and it is now a very important aspect of my life. I consume a lot of content related to cosplay, similar and different to the ones above, and have a very small following on my own cosplay TikTok.

Week 8

Week 11

Power Puff Girls Video

I was incredibly nervous taking on a group video assignment, as previously I have always opted to do video work on my own. There were initial struggles in terms of organization and scheduling due to absences and illness, but we were able to work through these issues to produce our final video. 

We decided as a group to incorporate the idea of cosplay into our video, and use the concept of a ‘closet cosplay’ as opposed to purchasing/making full cosplays. We picked The Power Puff Girls as our group cosplay due to our slight resemblances to the characters. 

I really love the way that the video came out. It was a very fun experience, and I enjoyed introducing my group members to cosplay. I sometimes feel awkward discussing cosplay with people I know in real life, but my group was very kind and open to the idea, which made me happy. We realized during the editing phase that the use of a greenscreen is often coupled with challenges and editing imperfections. I intend on learning more about lighting and how to avoid reflection of the greenscreen onto clothing, as that turned out to be a challenge we faced that affected the final product. 

In my opinion, the final video transforms a piece of existing internet culture by creating an in-character piece (see week 7 notes) that is quirky and experimental, rather than polished and high quality. I was inspired by Maya Ben David’s quirkiness in her work, but felt that I would be unable to achieve the same effect on my own. However, my group members brought a lot of personality to the work, and it turned out so fun. 

Week 12

Last year I purchased a hobby tattoo gun. I have always been interested in experimenting with different mediums, so I really wanted to give tattooing a try. That being said, I know there are a lot of technicalities when it comes to tattooing human skin. Thus, the only tattoos I have given in the past were to fruit clients.

For this assignment, I knew that I wanted to use my tattoo gun with fruits as the ‘canvas’, but wasn’t sure what to tattoo on them. Because most of my tattoos are inspired by different pieces of fiction/characters I like, I considered tattooing a few different characters. However, I wanted to push the idea of tattooing to be more conceptual. So, I began to consider what it means to have a tattoo at all. Tattoos are a type of self representation and expression of personality. The tattoos I have represent me – like a very strange self portrait. I used this idea to create Fruit Tattoos (2022). 

I decided to tattoo a ‘self portrait’ line art onto different fruits. I also took this opportunity to test the result of tattooing on different types of fruit flesh. I think that self representation through how we treat our skin is so interesting, and something I was unaware that I wanted to explore more of, and I really want to continue to work with idea.

First, I designed the line art on procreate. Then, I printed out about 8 temporary tattoos of each fruit. I set up my tattooing area, and set up a camera to record the process video. Unfortunately, the banana that I purchased became discolored, so I was unable to use it. Moving forward, I definitely want to include the banana in this set, because it was actually my favourite line art design. I tattooed the fruits that weren’t discoloured and presented them in class with my temporary tattoos.

I really love the resulting piece. Fruit Tattoos (2022) turned out exactly how I hoped it would. I really like the conceptual idea that is disguised by a visual that can be regarded as silly or fun. I also think that the ideas of bodies tattooed on bodies is something I would like to continue to work with further.